A Riddle through Time
by SusiN
Summary: When an curse in the final battle hit Hermoine s time turner, she was sent back in time. But as if that wasn t bad enough, it had to be back in time to where a young Lord Voldemort was still attending Hogwarts. With her. Oh joy! Rated M for future scenes, coarse language and possibly torture.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** _Hi guys :) This is actually my very first own FanFiction, so I hope you won´t be too harsh on me. I really appreciate constructive criticism and definitely want to hear all you have to say about my story. If you have any suggestions or ideas for the storyline feel free to tell me :D_

_As far as inspiration goes: I´ve read a loooot of amazing Tom/Hermoine FanFictions here, but always had my own little story in the back of my mind I suppose. I had some free time this afternoon and have finally gotten around to writing the beginning down. Comments might keep me going ;)_

_One more thing: English is not my mother tongue so bear with me in case there´s any grammar or spelling issues. If anyone wants to be my BETA I´d gladly take you up on your offer :)  
><em>

_(I found the picture for this story here: art/Hermione-Granger-206852941)_

**Chapter 1 – Encounters**

Her head was spinning. Somewhere in the distance she could hear people talking.

She wished they would stop.

She was feeling dizzy. She wanted to just lay there and drift into– _No!_

She had just remembered what had happened. Bellatrix, that crazy lunatic bitch, had hurled the killing curse at her in the middle of the final battle. She´d noticed too late, had been unable to avoid the ugly green curse racing towards her. It hit her. Right in the chest. Right into the time turner she´d held onto ever since all of the others had been destroyed in the department of mysteries, afraid that anyone might use this one against them one day.

The second the spell had hit her, her world began to spin around her. She had blacked out from the sensation of being hurled through the air several times only to wake again in the middle of the storm.

Was she dead now?

The weird, spinning sensation had stopped at least. But if she was dead, wouldn´t there at least be silence? Wouldn´t there be peace? Why wouldn´t those voices around her stop?!

She couldn´t make out what they were saying. She concentrated hard, trying to make out words. Slowly, after what felt like hours to her but in reality couldn´t have been more than a few seconds she heard them.

"…do you think she came from, Albus", a male voice spoke?

_Odd_, she thought, _why would anyone talk to Albus? He died. I must be dead then, I suppose._

"Shouldn´t we call the Ministry to clear this up" another unfamiliar voice asked.

_Hell, no! Don´t get these traitors here!_ She tried to force her eyes open to see who had spoken.

Slowly she moved her spinning head to the side and blinked several times, blinded by the bright lights.

"Look, she´s moving!"

Turning towards the man that had spoken she was able to make out three shapes. Blinking a couple of times she now saw them clearly.

"No bloody fucking way!" she cursed, earning her some shocked looks by the three males.

Dumbledore! One of the three men was definitely a very young, very much alive Dumbledore! The other man, a small, rather plump man with a long beard and a pointy hat, she recognized as the former Headmaster, Armando Dippet. The last one was a rather handsome looking boy, about her age eying her critically in his Slytherin uniform with the Head Boy´s badge on its front. _It can´t be…_

But there was no mistaking it. There, in the middle of the Headmaster´s office at Hogwarts, she lay at the feet of a young Lord Voldemort. _Shit!_

With that in mind she blacked out once more.

* * *

><p>He eyed the girl suspiciously.<p>

There he´d been, sitting in the Headmaster´s office, next to his most hated teacher, feigning interest in Dippet´s mindless chatter and pretending to be the perfect Head Boy everybody thought he was (well, everybody except for Dumbledore), when suddenly with a loud crash a girl fell onto the floor appearing out of thin air.

_She literally appeared out of thin air! You can´t apparate into Hogwarts! How the hell had she managed to breach the wards?!_

He took a closer look at the girl.

She was tall, long brown curls were spread around her face on the floor, her face looked dirty. Now that he noticed, her whole appearance was rather worn down. Her clothes were filthy with dirt and her skin covered with either blood or mud as well. She looked like she hadn´t eaten properly in quite a while and could definitely use a shower! Other than that though nothing seemed to be special about her…

The other two men slowly approached the girl, bending over her slightly to take a closer look as well.

"Where do you think she came from, Albus?", Dippet asked in his feeble voice.

Dumbledore didn´t answer and seemed to be staring at something on the girls clothes.

"Shouldn´t we call the Ministry to clear this up?" he asked, trying to sound like the law-abiding student he portrayed.

She stirred at that, slowly turning her head to the side, opening her eyes.

"Look, she´s moving!" Dippet stated.

Her eyes seemed to regain focus as she looked at them. Recognition flashed in them

"No bloody fucking way!"

He was shocked. Never, not once in his life had he heard a girl curse like that. Dippet and Dumbledore seemed stunned by her outburst as well, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

By now, he was intrigued by the girl on the floor, who had apparently had passed out again after making her… statement.

_I wonder which other surprises she would bring._

"Ahh, now I recognize her. That must be my niece. I hadn´t recognized her in the state she is in." Dumbledore interrupted his thoughts.

"Your niece? Albus, I didn´t know you had a niece! How come you never told me of her?" Dippet immediately raised to the bait, while Tom eyed his Professor critically.

_His niece? …as if._

"Ah see old friend, she is my brother Aberforth´s daughter. We hardly ever see each other as he had sent her to Beauxbatons. She was not supposed to come here unless she was in danger. I suppose she got caught up in Grindlewald´s affairs over there."

"How did she pass the wards, sir?" Tom asked with false politeness.

"My boy, I gave her that pendant around her neck as a present for her birthday and enchanted it so it would take her to me if she ever faced danger. Seeing as I am here now it took her to this office."

Tom threw a look at the broken pendant around her neck. It looked somewhat like an hourglass of sorts.

"What is her name, Albus?"

"All will be explained by her in short time I imagine. But don´t you think we should make sure that she is alright first? I will take her to the hospital wing if you don´t mind."

"Oh, of course." Dippet said, obviously embarrassed that he´d not thought of it himself and let his curiosity get the better of him.

Dumbledore flicked his wand and picked up the girl with a levicorpus spell. "I shall see you at dinner, Armando. Tom."

With that he took the mysterious girl out of the office, leaving Tom with a thousand questions on his mind. Questions he intended to get answers to!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Introductions**

When she woke up this time, she felt rested. After sleeping in a tent for the better part of a year it was nice to finally wake up in a comfortable bed. She tried to pry her eyes open to see where she was.

Blinking a few times until she could make out shapes in the room she was surprised to find herself in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. Turning her head slowly to take in all the differences her eyes fell on the sleeping wizard next to her bed.

Dumbledore. He was alive in this time. And much younger.

While she thought about how much she could tell him without changing the timeline to much, she didn´t notice him waking up as well.

"Ah, I see you´re awake. Finally" he said.

Her eyes widened. _Damn, I guess I´ll have to improvise._

"Good morning, sir."

He gave her a small smile and she could see that familiar twinkle in his deep blue eyes. She could feel him cast a few privacy charms adding to the ones he´d obviously put there when she´d been brought here.

"Would you mind telling me your name, young lady?"

"Hermione."

"Hermione. Alright then. Where do you come from?"

She thought for a moment. "Sir, why did you take me to the hospital wing instead of calling the aurors last night?"

"Because I saw you wearing this" he said, holding up her broken time turner. "As we both know what that is, we might as well start speaking more honestly now. I already told the headmaster that you were my niece, who previously attended Beauxbatons before having to flee France due to Grindlewalds attacks, which means that I have provided you with a cover for now. Be that as it may, I´d still like to know the real story behind your… visit."

She gave him a measuring look. The story he´d invented sounded good. Most people wouldn´t question her presence here when Dumbledore himself pretended to be a relative and having to leave Beauxbatons because of Grindlewald certainly would explain to the other students why she would come here in the middle of the term. Since she had no idea how to get back to her time, she had decided to stay here for a while anyway. There was no better place than the Hogwarts library to conduct some research.

"Alright then." she said. "My name is Hermoine Granger. I was born September 19th, 1979. Me and my friends were fighting a very powerful dark wizard when one of his minions hurled a killing curse at me in 1997. It hit the time turner, which somehow must have brought me here."

Dumbledore seemed to take in all that information before he spoke again. "Would you mind… showing me?"

Her eyes widened. He wanted to use legilimens on her. _Fair enough, I suppose. I wouldn´t believe a story like that without any prove either._

"…fine." She looked him in the eyes and slowly started to lower her mental shields enough to let him see inside.

She could feel him slowly easing into her mind, trying to probe her defenses. But he couldn´t get through any further than she would let him. He seemed to accept that and let himself be guided through her memories at Hogwarts. Her receiving the letter. The sorting hat. Meeting Harry and Ron. Searching for the philosopher´s stone. The Basilisk. Lupin´s transformation. The magical tournament. Voldemort being resurrected. The Ministry of Magic. Going into hiding to search for and destroy the horcruxes. And eventually the final battle.

She was a skilled occlumens. Her shields were strong. But having to live through all those memories again, seeing her friends fight, seeing some of them die… When Dumbledore left her mind, tears were running down her cheeks and a strangled sob escaped her.

"I´m sorry you had to go through all of that again. But I had to make sure…" he started.

She held up a hand to interrupt. "It´s alright. I know you had to."

"I will arrange for you to meet my brother, so you can talk things through with your supposed father – believe me, he is going to like you." He smiled a bit at that. "Afterwards I will talk to the headmaster. I am sure we can arrange for you to be sorted, so you can join classes once the weekend is over."

She nodded at him gratefully. "But don´t you want to ask me any more questions?"  
>"I´m sure it can wait. I will try to look into you time travel accident. Maybe I can help you find a way back. Until then though, you will act as Hermione Dumbledore."<p>

"Thank you, sir. I really appreciate your help!"

He slowly got up, took down most of the privacy charms and went to leave the hospital wing. "I´ll see you later, my dear niece." With a wink in her direction he went through the door.

"See you later, Uncle Albus" she whispered quietly after he´d already left.

* * *

><p>Tom Riddle was confused. He had tried to follow Dumbledore to the hospital wing earlier, only to be sent away by the old fool. He seriously despised that man. The way he would look at him sometimes… As if he knew all he had done. As if he… pitied him in some weird way. He didn´t need anyones pity!<p>

Anyway, he had not managed to get closer to the mysterious girl. He´d made several attempts, but Dumbledore wouldn´t leave her bedside.

He was curious! And angry! Mostly at himself because he couldn´t figure out why the hell he was hiding in a dark alcove in front the hospital wing. The endless cursing in his head was brought to a stop when the door unexpectedly opened and he could hear voices.

"I´ll see you later, my dear niece."

He pressed himself deeper into the shadows of his hiding place as Dumbledore stepped out of the room. He watched the old mans back retreating in the corridor and when he was out of sight he made sure to stay hidden for a couple of minutes longer to be sure he was gone for real.

With nothing to stop him now he made his way over to the door of the hospital wing and quietly slipped in. Taking a quick look around he found the girl sitting in the bed by the window. Without attracting attention he walked closer to her while studying her face.

She seemed lost in thought, not aware of her surroundings at all. He was about to call out to her, fake smile in place, when his foot accidentally hit the bedpost with a muffled sound.

Her head snapped up and before he could even blink she had her wand drawn, pointing right at his head. Her body had tensed and she had somehow managed to get into a fighting position while still sitting in bed.

Her eyes narrowed in on him and regarded him suspiciously.

"I.. I´m sorry. I… I didn´t mean to startle you." Tom said, his supposedly faked stammer containing a bit of truth as he had, in fact, been quite shocked by her reflexes.

She gave him another scrutinizing look before lowering her wand. He noticed she didn´t put it away though, but kept it in her hand instead.

She still didn´t react to his previous sentence and continued to look at him passively.

"Are you alright?" He asked, making himself sound as concerned as he could.

"I´m fine." Short. To the point.

"Are you sure? I mean you looked pretty bad when you apparated into the headmasters office." he continued, trying to get information out of her.

She gave him a curt nod.

"What is your name?"

"Not that it´s any of your concern, but my name is Hermoine. Hermoine Dumbledore."

He looked at her more closely. She was pretty, in an unconventional sort of way. Her eyes were caramel-colored and some emotion he couldn´t quite identify seemed to be hidden behind her impassive mask. Her hair hung down her back in soft curls that framed her face nicely. There were cuts and bruised that seemed to be healing on her cheeks, while smears of dirt still covered most of her skin. Still… Somehow he found he couldn´t look away.

"Tom Riddle" he said, holding out his hand, "I´m head boy of the school. It´s nice to meet you." And somehow, he meant it when he said that.

She nodded at him again, not taking his outstretched hand.

Anger sparked in him as he took his hand back. _How dare she ignore my offer?! Any other girl would´ve died to have him touch her in any way!_

"Was there anything you wanted?" she asked, her voice calm.

He looked at her, his polite mask still in place. "How did you manage to apparated into Howgarts?" managing to sound somewhat awed, as if he wanted to know out of admiration.

"Again, it´s actually none of your business. Plus, I´m quite sure my uncle explained it to you already. But as I´m feeling generous today: I didn´t apparated. My uncle gave me an enchanted pendant one day that would take me to him when I was in danger. If you wish to know about the charms he used, you´re going to have to talk to him." she said with a shrug.

"But where were you before you were taken here? You said something about being in danger. What were you doing?" He kept asking, wanting to get as much out of her as possible.

She shrugged again. "Fighting Grindlewald and his minions."

He was taken aback by that. She´d been fighting in a war? As a girl? And obviously she had not just been standing at the side watching if her injuries and the number of healing potions on her bedside table were anything to go by.

"You were…. fighting Grindlewald? THE Grindlewald?" he asked, surprising himself by letting his surprise show openly.

"Do you know another? Obviously it was THE Grindlewald." she answered, actually daring to roll her eyes at him as if he were some stupid school boy.

"Why?"

She shot him an angry look at that. "Because he´s a dark wizard who has lost his mind and is hurting innocent people on his mindless quest to power!" She snapped, conviction behind every word she´d said.

He could see the fire burning in her eyes when she spoke. _Sexy_ he though. _Wait, did I just think that?! Damn it, get a grip, Riddle! You´re the Dark Lord. You do NOT find stupid school girls sexy! Definitely not when they appeared to be related to Dumbledore!_

Lost in his own thoughts he didn´t notice the girl studying him again.

"I want you to leave me alone." That brought him out of it.

"Excuse me?" he asked, eying her disbelievingly. NOBODY told him what to do! Certainly not girls, who generally swooned at his feet if he just so much as looked at them for longer that a second. What was wrong with that bitch?

"I was told to rest and sleep off the rest of my injuries, so I´d rather you leave me alone now, Riddle"

His eyes narrowed slightly at that, his polite mask close to slipping.

"Of course. I didn´t mean to bother you, Miss Dumbledore." he pressed out.

"Oh I´m sure you didn´t" she muttered quietly to herself.

"What did you say?" he asked, daring her to repeat it.

Putting an overly polite smile on her face she looked at him. "Nothing at all. Have a nice evening. Goodbye."

"…Goodnight." he said, turning around and making his way to the door. Seething. _Who does she think she is? I´m going to make her pay for her disrespect! _

Going through the door he slammed it, harder than he´d intended, and stalked back to his quarters. Angry! But still curious. And strangely intrigued…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – A Familiar Face**

Hermione sighed in relief when he left through the door. Having the Dark Lord (although still young) talk to you was not something she enjoyed doing. All throughout their conversation she was not able to detect any sort of real emotion in his eyes. Well… He HAD seemed genuinely shocked when she´d told him she´d fought Grindlewald. But other than that none of the concern and politeness he had faked had reached his eyes.

She had also seen anger burn behind his eyes whenever she had mocked him. Although he had been quick to hide it.

She sighed. She was not so sure it had been a good idea to antagonize him like that, but she had not been able to stop herself. She hated arrogant people like him, people who thought themselves above all others. And if one thing had become clear to her during their talk it had been the fact that Tom Riddle deemed himself superior – not just superior to her, but to everyone. He carried himself with an air of arrogant self-confidence. And he tried to hide it behind the mask of the perfect Head Boy. He was not used to people seeing through that act. But Hermione had decided that she was going to be the one to bring him back to earth. She was going to show him that she was NOT beneath the likes of him!

She smirked to herself. _Yep, he needs to be put in place. Maybe that will do him some good._

Satisfied with that little plan of hers, she curled herself up again and tried to sleep. She would need as much energy as possible to not just research for a way to get back to her time but also show the little Dark Lord that he was not as special as he thought.

Waking up the next morning Hermione figured it wouldn´t be a bad idea to start her exercising routine again. Before having to drop out of Hogwarts in order to live in a tent and hunt dark pieces of a crazy maniacs soul, she had in fact taken to jogging at the school grounds every morning in her fifth year. Thinking back on the reason for her sudden interest in sport she had to smile.

In her summer break some of her muggle friends had convinced her to go with them to a night club. Not having been to one before she had stood out quite a bit with her ordinary jeans and a t-shirt. Mostly though it was the fact that she was the only person just standing around without moving. One of the girls, Stacy, who she´d been friends with since kindergarten, noticed and asked what was wrong.

"I don´t know how to dance" she´d said, her face as red as a cherry from embarrassment.

"Don´t think! Close your eyes, listen to the music and let the beat move your body" Stacy had answered. Simple.

Not wanting to trust her instincts alone, she had watched the people she thought looked best dancing, memorizing their moves, before finally closing her eyes to do as Stacy had said.

She had felt the beat. She remembered the moves. And suddenly her body had copied them. She´d never felt better and really enjoyed dancing. She didn´t even notice how people had started staring at her (although now it had not been because of her clothing anymore).

That was when Drake had shown up. Tall, good-looking, older Drake, who – for some reason she couldn´t understand – had taken an interest in her.

He´d asked her how long she´d been dancing. After hearing that this had been her very first time, he´d practically forced his number on her and told her to call him tomorrow. Something about not wasting her talent… Actually calling him the next day had been the best decision she´d made in her life!

It turned out Drake and his brother owned a Dance Studio and he had given her free lessons because he thought she had talent. She´d been skeptical at first, but after spending every single day of her summer break at the Studio, learning new moves and techniques and being around so many fun and creative people she´d fallen in love with dancing. She´d started to feel more comfortable in her own skin. And she noticed how she looked to other people. The dancing as well as slowly growing into a young woman had shaped her body quite nicely and she had learned how to use her female assets.

When she had to return to Hogwarts after the summer, however, she wore the same plain robes, didn´t put on any make up and stayed just as plain as she´d been before. She knew drawing attention to herself by suddenly being all popular with guys would put her even further into the spotlight than being the muggle-born best friend of the-boy-who-lived already did. But since she planned on joining the Dance Studio at any break from school now, she had to stay in shape. Therefore she started jogging in the mornings and tried to squeeze in as many dance practices in the Room of Requirements as she could.

Being back at Hogwarts again, even though time-travel had not been how she´d expected her return to look like, she saw no reason not to continue with that routine. Surely, staying in shape couldn´t be a bad idea when you were going to live in the same building as the future Dark Lord.

Transfiguring her hospital gown into some tight pants and a sporting top, she made her way down to the grounds of Hogwarts.

When she arrived at the lake, she was surprised to see another girl stretching as if she was going to go jogging as well.

"Hey" she greeted. "Are you going jogging as well?"

The other girl startled and turned around. She seemed to take a short look at her before asking: "I am. Who are you? I don´t recognize you."

"Oh of course, I´m sorry. My name is Hermione. Hermione Dumbledore. I´m starting classes here on Monday."

Her eyes widened. "You´re related to Professor Dumbledore?"

She nodded. "Yes, he´s my uncle."

"My name is Minerva McGonagall. I´m Head Girl this year. I´m sorry for my reaction before, but I´m not used to seeing other people exercising."

"Same here. Would you like to run together? You probably know the grounds a bit better than me." Hermione answered.

* * *

><p>When Tom woke up the next morning he cast a quick <em>Tempus<em> charm to confirm that he – as usual for a Saturday – had managed to be awake at precisely 8 o´clock.

Deciding to go about his favorite morning activity he made his way down to the grounds to annoy Minerva. He didn´t like the girl, because for some reason she´d never liked him. Although he was quite sure that had more to do with him getting better grades in every class than her knowing anything about his true nature. He _did_ find it amusing though to see the look on her face whenever a teacher praised him to be the best student after every test.

Thinking on ways to annoy her after her jogging session today, he stopped dead in his tracks when he looked out of the window and saw her running with someone else. And not just anybody: If he wasn´t mistaken – and he rarely was – she was running with no other than Hermione Dumbledore. And by the looks of it they had just finished their round and seemed to be getting along just well.

He sighed.

Trust the Head Girl to befriend the second most annoying girl he´d met so far. She´d probably end up in Gryffindor as well and he´d have to endure the two of them together.

Deciding that he didn´t want to have to deal with both of them right now, he went to the library instead to do some research on the mysterious new girl. He was, after all, pretty sure that Dumbledore did _not_ have a niece. Much less such a pretty one.

* * *

><p>Totally out of breath Minerva and her finished their run together.<p>

"That went better than expected" Hermione said. "I didn´t think I´d make it that far."

"You´re good. Do you wanna be my jogging partner?" Minerva asked.

"Sure."

They caught their breathes while slowly making their way back to the castle.

"Which house are in you in by the way?" Minerva wanted to know.

"Hm, not sure yet. I think my uncle said something about sorting me this evening before dinner. Hopefully not Slytherin though. I´d hate to have to be close to that Riddle-guy more often than necessary!"

Minerva stopped suddenly and when Hermione turned around to see what was wrong, she had a smiling Head Girl embrace her in a bear hug.

Still giggling, the girl said "Sorry, but you´re the _first_ girl who apparently doesn´t swoon over that creep."

At hearing that statement, Hermiones face broke into a grin as well.

"No way! That guy is acting soooo fake, how can any girl _not_ see that? Surely not everybody believes his act, right?"

"Sadly he´s got the whole student body and all of the professors wrapped around his little finger. Well, except Dumbledore that is. But you´ll see that at dinner I suppose."

Hermione thought on that for a minute. It made sense. Harry had always said Riddle had been popular at school. But after meeting the guy she couldn´t see how nobody seemed to realize his act…

"Alright. Since it´s still early, would you mind showing me around the school until I´ll have to meet my dad and my uncle for lunch?" she asked her now-young ex-professor. She had a feeling the two of them were going to get along just fine.

"Sure! Let´s start at the prefects bathrooms, I think both of us could use a quick shower."


End file.
